Gò0dNews from the Pastor’s Desk
Everlasting Love
A
by Jason Barnes
s we walk through this life, obstacles form in our
the middle of the Sea of Galilee. In the Book of Matthew,
path. Some are just hurdles of life, and some are
he describes the inevitable in a believer’s life when we lose
intentionally placed there by Satan, a distraction.
sight of the Christian walk chasing the everlasting love,
We live in one of the most distraction-filled societies in
this everlasting love being JESUS! Matthew 14:28-30 states,
the world. I am concerned that with these distractions all
“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid
around us, we have taken or will eventually take our eyes
me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And
off of our first love, Jesus!
when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked
One of the challenges that I have seen in my own life is taking the time to recognize whether or not it was indeed
on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” So where did this wind come from in Peter’s walk? Out of nowhere, or perhaps was it was the beginning of a storm? This we do not know. However, while Peter had his eyes on Jesus, He gave Peter the power to actually walk on water! We know as the wind blows across the water, the waves will start getting larger and more frequent, thus making the body of water we are in harder and harder to manage. My friend, listen: such is life! When “the wind” or the trouble comes, we tend to take our eyes off of the everlasting love and put our focus on the world or our environment, and before we know it, we have started to drown,
what is described in the Book of Job. The Bible states, “Man,
just like Peter. I challenge you from this day forward, please
who is born of women, is of few days and full of trouble.”
walk by faith and not by sight! God is waiting to perform
Discernment in the children of God is important, meaning the
a way-making change in your life. All we have to do is
ability to recognize or make a decision with the guidance of
simply ask and believe. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall
God to help us arrive at the best conclusion: “good judgment.”
be given you.” How long has it been since you truly had a
Satan, on the other hand, will try his best to throw a
talk with the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ? Let Him wrap
curveball in life, or a stumbling block, if I may, to take us
you in His everlasting love! Give Jesus a chance to make
off guard. This trickery takes our mind off the mark! Paul
an eternal difference in your life. Get ready, get ready, get
said in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the
ready! Here comes Jesus, right on time! He will rescue you,
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” So this
just like when He saved Peter from the sea!
lose power with God. In closing, let me take your mind back to the story of Peter and the disciples on the boat in
6 // May 2020
About The Author
Scripture plainly tells us that when we are distracted, we Jason Barnes has been preaching since 2005 and has been in pastoral ministry since then as both a youth pastor and now a lead pastor. He is married beautiful wife and together they have a beautiful daughter that God has blessed them with.
